When I first moved to Canada, I remember being asked if I ate Sushi and Sashimi everyday growing up in Japan……I mean I can’t really blame people for having this kind of misconception (Japanese food = sushi and sashimi) when Vancouver has more sushi joints than Starbucks. Obviously, my answer was no. Japanese people don’t eat raw fish as their regular meal. I remember eating sushi on special occasions or had to settle for cheap kaiten sushi (conveyor belt sushi) if we found ourselves craving for sushi. Another huge misconception is that people automatically think rolls when we talk about sushi. In Japan, people don’t eat rolls…well, more accurately…rolls in Japan are more simple rolls such as tuna maki. So, please don’t expect California roll and Dynmite roll if you happen to go to a sushi joint in Japan. Anyways, what I’m trying to say here is that there are a lot more to Japanese cuisine than just sushi!

Hachibei in Fairview is a restaurant I visit, time to time, when I feel like eating home-style Japanese comfort food. Sure, they have sushi here too but I don’t usually order sushi when I’m here. I go for Teishoku which means a set meal in Japanese. The restaurant is relatively small and it does get packed easily especially on weekends. If I only knew I was going to start this blog..I would have saved all the pictures of what I ordered in my previous visits….what a waste of all these years of food exploring. But Hey! Starting fresh means I get to re-visit all those restaurants again! On this visit to Hachibei, we did not order much (ordered about the amount what a normal couple would order lol) because, believe it or not, I’m on DIET (well…kind of….)!

Spicy Tuna Sashimi– 2.5/5

$6.95

This was from their a la carte menu.

Quantity-wise, definitely pretty small for the price.

Quality-wise, it was just okay for me.

Chicken Karaage– 3.5/5

$6.95

Japanese deep fried chicken

Nicely deep fried with crispy outside and juicy inside

Oyako Don– 3.5/5

$8.75

Chicken, onion, beaten egg on rice

Oyako means “parent-child” in Japanese and this donburi is called Oyako don because it’s chicken and egg!

Personally, I would prefer more runny eggs on top for my Oyako don but it tasted pretty good!

It is definitely well prepared home-style tonkatsu with crispy exterior but juicy on the inside.

At Hachibei, you can truly experience what a normal everyday meal would be in Japan. In my previous visit, I’ve tried their deep fried oyster teishoku, grilled fish, gyoza, battera, and some sushi. They have decent sushi too but I would definitely stick with their comfort foods because that’s what they do the best in my opinion!